What Is Bitcoin Gold? When Can I Trade It?

Anyone who owns bitcoin will soon be able to enjoy the perks of a new cryptocurrency. An alternative version of block 491,017 for bitcoin has been launched in the form of a variant branded as BTG or bitcoin gold.

The project plans to improve the technology that bitcoins work on by changing the system for competition of rewards. This is also the second such launch after August via a process known as a hard fork.

Readers who have been staying in touch with the bitcoin industry will be able to recall this term from the launch of bitcoin cash recently. Although, it is too early to make a call on bitcoin gold, there are enough reasons for the enthusiasm to rise.

What is Bitcoin Gold?

To understand bitcoin gold in a better way, it is imperative to understand the goals that it aims to achieve. Bitcoin gold aims to achieve two major goals.

Firstly, bitcoin gold wants to change the way mining works. The fork plans to alter the process in a way that the fastest mining machines may no longer be required by users.

Secondly, the fork aims to attract a higher influx of people to the system and eventually to free the bitcoin from the moguls that are offering the products. Experts behind BTG have argued that these moguls command undue influence.

Instead of just scaling bitcoins, bitcoin gold aims to tweak bitcoins in a bid to make it decentralized again. While bitcoin gold will be created via a similar mechanism, it differs from bitcoin cash in more than one way. The differences include:

The bitcoin gold currency is set to be manufactured before the code is open-sourced to the public.

Around 1 percent of all cryptocurrency tokens mined before the chain goes public will be used for paying the development team behind bitcoin gold.

Once the initial distribution phase is over, the team will launch the cryptocurrency so that all users can successfully redeem their coins.

While bitcoin gold aims to become a de-facto version of the popular bitcoin, many experts consider it to be nothing more than an altcoin – a term used to define all digital currencies launched using bitcoin’s code.

Do I have Bitcoin Gold?

The fork for bitcoin gold took place on October 25; which means that everyone who owned one bitcoin BTC at that time has received one bitcoin gold BTG. This has opened the doors for enhanced market activity in the future.

The first thing that you should do to retrieve your bitcoin gold is to move your bitcoin to all wallets or exchanges that allow you to operate BTG. To date, we have more than 20 wallets and exchanges that support the launch of bitcoin gold and allow traders to trade them. With proper planning, this fork could open a new era of opportunities in the crypto market.